Kidnapping
by isoner
Summary: Young Luke Smith is identified as an alien byproduct by Torchwood and taken into custody. Sarah Jane is determined to get him back. Torchwood/SJA crossover. Complete with chapter 5.
1. Chapter 1

Torchwood: Kidnapping

"That's odd," Toshiko said to herself, her eyes glued to the CCTV feed that watched the feed from outside Torchwood 3. She always watched it when Jack left using the elevator exit, which he liked to use when he was showing off or trying to leave unnoticed by bypassing the regular security checks. On the screen, Jack stepped off of the platform and quickly moved out of view.

"Did you say something, Tosh?" Owen asked from his station across the room.

"It's probably nothing, but it looked like that boy saw Jack as he went up."

"That's never happened before," Ianto said from the upper level, moving quietly unnoticed, keeping track of everything.

Owen had already moved to crouch over Toshiko's shoulder, studying the CCTV footage on the screen. "Which one was it?"

"That one," Tosh said, pointing to a tall slim boy on the screen who was busy talking to the girl next to him.

Grabbing his jacket and Tosh's portable scanner, Owen headed for the door. "Ill go check it out. Depending on how this goes, we may need containment. God, I hate bloody school field trips."

Ianto met Owen at the door as it opened. "Ill get the Retcon ready, just in case. Take this, it may help," he held out a bar of dark chocolate."

"Its not like I'm going to use candy to bribe him into the back of the SUV!" Owen complained.

"Why not? I understand it happens all the time," Ianto replied in his usual deadpan, leaving Owen to continue on, unsure if Ianto was joking or not.

"Did you see that?" he asked Maria

"See what?" she asked.

"That man over there. Its like he just came up out of the ground. You were looking right at him when he did it."

"I didn't see anything," Maria exclaimed. "What man, where?"

He raised his arm to point, but the subject of his curiosity had disappeared. "Well, he was there, over by the waterfall."

Lost in his curiosity the boy drifted away from his friends and school mates, moving closer to the waterfall. Maria barely noticed his moving away, suitably distracted by something her occasional friend Kelsey was saying. A moment later a beeping sound finally distracted him from studying the ordinary patch of sidewalk and drew his attention to the man standing behind him.

"Did you see it too?" the boy asked.

"I did," the man replied, putting a black box thing with glowing blue lights on the end in his pocket. "Very strange indeed. You know that's what I do, investigate strange happenings like this, Doctor Owen Harper, Torchwood." Owen reached out to shake the boy's hand.

The boy shook Owen's hand, only when he did the man did not let go, but grabbed him tightly, pulling him up onto the section of sidewalk that had so intently held his interest.

"Oh, Have some candy," Owen said. The hand that still held the candy bar thrust against the boy's chest further constraining the child's struggles.

"Oi, Maria!" the young black boy named Clyde ran up to her, driving the normally overbearing Kelsey off. "Have you seen Luke?"

"Yeah, he is right over…" she looked around, and again more intently, but her friend Luke Smith was nowhere to be seen.

Author's note: I was going to write more but Im too tired right now. Still should be enough for a first chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Kidnapping chapter 2

Authors Notes: I do not own Torchwood, Sara Jane or any other aspect of the WHO universe. I also realize that this story may have errors stemming from my lack of first hand knowledge of the UK. All I know of the country comes from the Who universe… and Tomorrow People. I really liked that show too.

Sarah Jane Smith, journalist, adventurer, and one time traveling companion of the Doctor eagerly opened the door and greeted her young friend and neighbor, Maria Jackson.

"So, Maria, how was your field trip to Cardiff Bay?" Sarah Jane asked, then looked around behind Maria to notice that her adopted son, Luke, was not with her. "Where's Luke? Did something happen?"

"What do you mean? I didn't see Luke at all today," a confused Maria answered.

A display of different emotions crossed Sarah Jane's face as she tried to settle on what to say next, "Maria, how did you get to school this morning?"

Maria opened her mouth, expecting to have an easily ready answer, but froze as one was not forthcoming, and a look of confusion came across her face. "I don't remember."

"I drove you and Luke to school this morning," Sarah Jane explained. "Call Clyde, see what he remembers."

"What do I say?" Maria asked, pulling out her cell phone.

"Ask him anything, ask him what he had for breakfast this morning, or ask him where he sat on the bus ride up to Cardiff Bay?"

Punching in the numbers, Maria waited for Clyde to answer the phone, as usual it wasn't long before he did. "Hey, Clyde; its Maria."

"No, still not sure what's up with Luke yet. Listen, do you remember where you were sitting on the bus ride up to the bay?"

Sarah Jane could just barely make out Clyde responding, "I don't know, is it important?"

"It could be very important! What did you have for breakfast this morning?"

Maria turned away so Sarah Jane could not make out his answer, but she could tell from the increasing hysterics that it was another negative. She was nearly crying when she turned back to Sara Jane. "He doesn't remember, he doesn't …"

"It's all right, its all right," Sarah Jane did her best to calm the girl despite the rising rage and panic swelling within her own breast. "At least we all remember him, so its not like that incident with the Graske."

"But what do we do?"

"First, we tell your dad. Hes part of this now, we should keep him in the loop. Then, we will call the police and trace back what you can remember and try to sort out what happened. And we will get Luke back."

"And if we can't?"

"Oh, Maria. I've developed more than a few contacts in PROBE, UNIT, and the military over the years; and I'm bloody well not afraid to use them."

Tosh's monitor displayed Owen and the boy down in a secure conference room. Like most of the rooms in Torchwood, it looked to be in a poor state of repair, and in a bad need of fresh paint, but this hid the fact that the room was highly secure and had abundant sensors in place to scan the occupants.

"It's a good thing Gwen is on her honeymoon," Tosh said, "She would kill Owen if she saw he had a kid locked up in there."

"Yes, but he's already dead," Ianto said, "Still she could always cremate him."

"Now there is a pleasant thought," Tosh said, "When is Jack getting back?"

"Not sure. He got a call from Doctor Jones and took off. Something about collecting statues from and old house."

"Here it is," Tosh said checking her computer screen, " Luke Smith; adopted son of Sarah Jane Smith, but it looks like these documents are forged. If I didn't have to make these forms myself I would never have noticed, but Luke Smith didn't even exist before his adoption."

"If she is behind this, we may have to collect her as well."

"All right, Kid," Owen said, "What are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"What species are you?"

"I'm human," Luke answered.

"Yeah, right. Course you are. Initial test results say, yes, you are Human, but then you have to look at what the numbers mean. Your initial readings were perfectly normal," Owen explained, "Too normal. You either had an alien parasite that would kill you in a week, or you are artificial… a theory that seems even more likely given that your cellular structure is less than two years old. Course you also have no navel, so you may just be an incompetent shape shifter. So the question remains: What are you?"

"I was made by the Bane and my Mum adopted me when I escaped and they went away," Luke tried to explain. "But what about you? What are you?"

Elsewhere Tosh immediately began accessing all the information Torchwood had on the Bane. Not for the first time she thought she saw a gentle aspect to Owen than he liked to hide, as he was being much more gentle with the boy than he would with an average alien. Granted the boy who called himself Luke Smith was certainly cuter than the average alien.

"What do you mean?" Owen asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"You are not breathing, except when you inhale in order to speak," Luke said, " Humans need to breath in order to live, so what are you?"

Owen stood up to leave, "Well I am human. I may be dead, but I'm definitely human."

"Can I go now?"

"Sorry, Kid. We're going to have to keep you. Cant afford to have rogue aliens running about."

"My Mum will be worried. She will find me."

"I doubt it, kid. As far as your parents are concerned, you just left for school one day and disappeared, never even making it to school."


	3. Chapter 3

Torchwood: Kidnapping 3

Disclaimers: I do not own any aspect of the Doctor Who universe, or TP for that matter. I suppose I should have mentioned last chapter a slight warning for spoilers, which deffinatley applies to this chapter, although I guess it is mainly Americans who have not seen how Sarah Jane Adventures ends yet.

Young Luke Smith sat in a tiny little cell. He was pretty sure he was still close to Cardiff Bay, but things had gotten rather disjointed in the past several hours. He had already counted the bricks that made up the walls of his tiny prison, but now wished he still had that activity to look forward to. The least they could have done would have been to put some fresh paint on them, as the cell looked depressing and run down. He could tell that it was very old though. He could also see where iron bars had once been mounted into the floors and ceiling of his prison, before they had been ripped out and replaced by a Plexiglas shield that separated him from the hallway that nobody seemed to use. The run down surroundings made him expect to hear a steady dripping of water with which to pass the time, or be annoyed by, but instead all he could hear was a periodic piercing howl of some unseen creature further down the row of cells that was unlike anything he had heard before.

Next he would just have to keep his mind busy by coming up with mathematical exercises using the base number of bricks. Maybe he could use that to determine exactly how far from where he was he could possibly be. What Luke Smith did not notice were the myriad of tiny sensors that were constantly scanning him and the tiny CCTV across the hallway that allowed the people of Torchwood 3 to keep a constant watch over him.

Young Maria sat on a comfy chair up in Sara Jane Smith's attic. Sarah Jane sat next to her, leaning close to pay attention to every world the girl said, and her Dad stood back against the wall so he would be out of the way and free to pace as he tried to sort out the newest situation.

"Tell me again, Maria, what is the first thing you remember about your field trip to Cardiff Bay?" Sarah Jane asked.

"I went into a lecture hall where this guy, I don't know his name, was talking about all the nitpicky trivial facts about Cardiff; but it was SO boring, I couldn't stay awake. I mean they had even served us juice, and I still fell asleep."

"When did they give you juice?"

"I don't know. Actually, I don't really remember the start of the lecture at all. I just remember waking up to the droning voice of that man, and looking down to see a juice cup in my hand," Maria said.

Sarah Jane leapt to her feet and strode with purpose to the brick wall that appeared to be the upper part of a fireplace's chimney. "Mr. Smith, I need you."

With a flurry of lights, sound and steam, the brickwork opened revealing the home constructed alien computer with its crystalline monitor display that Sarah Jane had playfully named Mr. Smith.

Maria's Dad shuddered at the sight of it; despite the claims that Mr. Smith had been fixed and reformed, he could not forget about the trouble the "computer" had caused not long ago.

"You think she was drugged?" Alan asked.

"We'll see. Maria, stand in front of Mr. Smith, please. Mr. Smith would you scan Maria for any irregularities?"

"Certainly, Sara Jane," Mr. Smith said in its almost monotone yet friendly voice. He was silent a moment while he scanned Maria, who stood still like she was waiting for her school picture to be taken. "Scan complete, only one irregularity found. Her blood contains trace amounts of compound B-67, which is known to have memory altering properties."

A level of friendliness seemed to drop away from Sara Jane's face. She was all business now, ready to declare war. "Access the CCTV system in Cardiff, use it to track Maria and Luke's movements today. Find out what happened to Luke."

While Sara Jane's voice had turned hard, Mr. Smith's maintained its friendly monotone, "Accessing."

On Mr. Smith's screen the moving crystalline screensaver like display was replaced by CCTV footage moving at high speed, switching from camera to camera. The images showed the school bus pulling up and the children exiting, children moving about and forming into their class lines, and milling about before being taken inside for whatever tours or lectures were planned. While they could plainly see Maria and Clyde on the screen, there was no sign of Luke.

"That's not possible," Sarah Jane whispered to herself.

"Sarah Jane," Mr. Smith stated, "These records have been altered."

"What? How? How can you tell?"

"There are minor alterations noticeable in the image," the screen changed to show Maria talking to some of her girl friends, then turn and talk to empty air beside her. "In addition, there is a slight discrepancy between the time code of when the image was recorded and when it was saved, indicating that someone edited the video then resaved it over the original."

Alan stepped forward, "Can you recover the unedited video file? When a computer file is deleted it is not actually eraced."

"Negative. All empty space on the source computer has recently been overwritten by 1's and 0's.

"Can you at least trace the computer to find who edited the video?"

"Yes, I believe I can," Mr. Smith said, this time his voice sounded more upbeat and a little less monotone.

Tosh sat bolt upright in her chair, and reflexively called out, "We're being hacked!" She knew she really didn't need to announce it like that, all it did was make sure she had an audience as Owen and Ianto rushed over to look over her shoulder as she activated additional firewalls and some of her anti-hacker programs. They all viewed her as the computer expert, since she did most of the computer work, but she suspected that Ianto could give her a run for her money if he wanted to.

She smiled to herself, "That should stop him."

Her smile turned to a frown as various red warning came up announcing that her new anti-hacker programs had been subverted or disabled. "Damn, this guys good."

"I have located the computer," Mr. Smith declared, " I am attempting to gain access to it."

"That should be a piece of cake for you, right?" Maria said.

"Normally," Mr. Smith replied, "This is a biotronic computer, only the third such computer I have encountered on Earth. Biotronic computers organic nature can make them difficult to access."

That was true, Sarah Jane knew. The first such Biotronic computer was on a crashed space ship out at sea, the second was located somewhere in the London Underground system, but she had come to the 

conclusion it could only be accessed by Transmat, she had decided not to worry about locating it further unless it proved to be a threat. "Can you do it?"

Voice full of emotion, Mr. Smith answered, "I am a Xylok with a purpose: To defend the Earth. At this time the best way to fulfill that purpose is with the continued assistance of Luke Smith. A computer, organic or otherwise has no purpose other than what it is programmed to do. This stray computer doesn't have a chance."

Tosh looked in horror as her last defensive program went offline. That last one had been her best shot, designed to learn and take full advantage of their alien computer's thought matrix, there was nothing left she could do on the software end of things.

"They have access to the system; we have to cut the connections."

"The computer has been taken off the network," Mr. Smith reported, "But I was able to obtain the location information we needed.

"Good, Mr. Smith. Who are we dealing with?" Sarah Jane asked, silently fearing that Luke may have been grabbed by UNIT, but at least with UNIT she had connections.

The images on Mr. Smiths screen was replaced by the letter "T" written in hexigons.

Mr. Smith said, " Torchwood."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Torchwood, Sarah Jane Adventures, Children of the Stones or any other odd shows that I may have made reference to. Im beginning to fear that the planned ending to this wont live up to the build up its getting, but it is fun to write. This chapter was going to be a bit longer, but that has been moved to chapter 5. Enjoy.

The bell on the door to the rundown tourist information center rang as the door opened wide. Ianto looked up from his dull book just long enough to glance at the two women who were standing outside, holding the door open. Correction, one woman, the other was a young girl, possibly a teenager. The woman was giving the girl some instructions, but not loud enough for him to hear what they were.

The book held only the most basic interest for him, in that he was actually reading it, but only while he was on the surface, he had been at it for over a year and only gotten half way through the tattered volume. Although, there had been the one time when Jack had replaced it with a pornographic novel, that had been difficult to explain to the tourists who were passing through at the time. The door jingled again as it closed and the woman entered. She appeared to be middle age, but he suspected she was older than she looked.

"Hi, may I help you?" Ianto asked, setting the book down and giving the woman his full attention.

"Sarah Jane Smith," the woman said, shaking his hand, "I've come looking for my son, I'm afraid he's gotten lost somewhere around here."

"Well, I haven't seen anyone other than yourself all day," he replied, "I'm sorry."

Sarah Jane gave him a smile that seemed too sincere, as she fingered a photograph. She seemed to be debating whether or not to show it to him. "May I use your phone?"

"Certainly," Ianto replied, gently moving the corded telephone towards her so she could use it. He couldn't help wondering if the photo was of the boy Owen had in lock up; not likely, as far as anyone was concerned there was no proof that the boy had ever reached school that day, never mind the fieldtrip to Cardiff. Still, he hoped Jack would return soon, he was afraid that Owen has over stepped his 

bounds on this one. It didn't bother him that much, it was just the sort of thing Torchwood One did on a regular basis, but Jack and especially Gwen may take exception to it.

Down the road, the young girl Maria Jackson finally found a payphone, and dialed the number Sarah Jane Smith had written down for her.

"Hi, Sir," she franticly spoke into the handset, "… I know this is your private line. You don't know me, but my name is Maria Jackson. I'm calling on behalf of Sarah Jane Smith… She's fine, but they took Luke and she is going in to get him. She told me to call you in case something goes wrong, and because they may come after me and my Dad next."

She listened to the strong voice on the other end of the phone that spoke with a confidence and authority that she had only heard from Sarah Jane before. Slowly her own fears melted away."

Alan Jackson finished setting up his laptop on a small table in Sarah Jane's attic. Normally he would have filled his newfound computer support roll from his own home across the street, but Sarah Jane had asked him to keep watch over Mr. Smith incase anything went wrong. Of course, normally she would have had the computer Mr. Smith performing her computer support for this task, but "he" was otherwise occupied at the moment.

He checked the time on his computer screen and saw he still had a few seconds before he needed to begin, so he spared another glance at the improbable wall safe that was mounted in the wall. What amazed him was that the safe was apparently immense inside; Sarah Jane had said it contained a Swiss developed black hole, while he would like to doubt that, he had already seen far too much to doubt anything anymore. Set up next to the open safe was a carefully positioned full length mirror that Mr. Smith was using to bounce energy beams into the safe. He really didn't fully understand what was going on, but whatever it was took Mr. Smith's full concentration.

Alan had his computer set up and an array of invasive programs and viruses ready for instant use. Everything short of the Armageddon Virus, he didn't want to cause the end of the world if the targeted computer was interconnected with the rest of the world in unexpected ways.

Finally the clock rolled over to the prearranged time, and Alan began sending signals to the computer addresses that had been furnished by Mr. Smith the first time it had hacked into the Torchwood computers. He didn't make any attempt to be graceful or subtle in his initial assault on their computer system, while he did intend to gain access to their systems, first he wanted their attention.

"I told you, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to be able to see that lift," a very tired and haggard Luke Smith tried to explain to the stern looking Owen Harper that sat across from him.

"Your not helping your case, or do you mean that if you knew you weren't suppose to see it then you wouldn't have? What other abilities do you have? You have already proven that you are gifted in math well above humanity. Are you ready to finally tell me what you are?" Owen said.

"I already told you, I was made by the Bane. I'm an amalgamation of ten thousand scanned people. That is why I have good memory and am good with math. That must be why I could see your lift too," Luke explained.

"So you say you are an artificial human. Like a clone," Owen said, sounding doubtful, although the truth was that he was starting to believe the kid. But if he was an artificial person, then what? They couldn't very well just let an alien experiment wale around free, that was against everything Torchwood stood for.

"That's why I don't have a belly button, but I'm not a clone, exactly. Look, I just want to go home to my Mum. I know she will be looking for me. She will be worried."

"When my boss gets back, we'll decide what to do with you, okay?" Owen said. "I've looked into this whole Bubble Shock thing, what else can you tell me about the Bane?"

Before Luke could answer, they were interrupted by a call from the intercom. "Dr. Harper, Please come to the Hub," Tosh said over the intercom system. 'Doctor Harper,' she had said, playing it all official in front of the prisoner.

Owen gave Luke a thin humorless smile as he stood up. "Sorry. Duty calls," he said, then walked out of the room, leaving Luke very much alone.

"What is it, Tosh?" Owen asked as he casually jogged back into the Hub.

"Torchwood, how may I help you?" Tosh said into the phone receiver with her most professional sounding voice, then franticly covered the mouthpiece and angrily mouthed to him: Owen, pick up the phone!

Startled, and a little shocked, Owen picked up the nearest handset. In his time at Torchwood he had never once seen that phone line in use when they did not already know who the caller was, usually UNIT or Whitehall.

"Just a moment, Dr. Harper will be able to assist you with any questions you have," Tosh said into the phone, then hurriedly put down her handset and rushed to her computer terminal. Owen knew that she was already busy starting to trace the call, finding out who was calling, from where, and as much about them as possible.

Using his official voice, Owen took over the call, "This is Dr. Harper, how can I help you?"

On the other end of the line a woman's voice said, "My name is Sarah Jane Smith. I believe you are holding my son. I want him back."

Owen looked over at Tosh.

"I've got the trace…. Its coming from…" she looked back at him with a dumbfounded look on her face, "upstairs."

Tosh toggled the CCTV feed from the upstairs entrance to the big screen. They saw a woman with her back to the camera, standing at the desk with the phone to her ear, and staring at Ianto, who was manning the desk.

"Really?" Owen said, reaching for his gun. "What is his name."

"I'm giving you this one chance," Sarah Jane said, "release him now, or I'm coming to get him."

"Now, listen, we can discuss this like two civilized people," Owen began, but Sarah Jane hung up the phone on him.

"You should have invited her down here, like the first time we met Gwen," Tosh said.

"Bollocks, your right," Owen agreed, that way they could have kept the situation contained, and under control. "Jack always did have the best ideas. What—"

"We are being hacked again," Tosh exclaimed from her computer, "different computer from before. Damn I wish Jack were here!"

Owen wasn't able to give Tosh any attention. If he had blinked, he would have missed it. Ianto had made some sort of move, he wasn't sure what, not that it mattered now. Once Ianto had started to 

make his move, a thin energy beam from under the camera angle struck Ianto, and he crumpled. Then the woman looked down, then at the secret door. She raised up her arm to point at the door, and the door opened.

Something in Owen began to panic, between what he saw on the screen, and from watching Tosh fend off computer attacks from her station. First thing, he needed to do, he decided was to buy them some time. He initiated the Hub's Lockdown. Nothing would be getting in or out.


	5. Chapter 5

Authors Notes: At long last this is the final chapter. I do not own the rights to Torchwood, Sarah Jane Adventures, Doctor Who or any other show I may refer to. If any wants to know, I started this story because the only cross over stories I could find between these two shows were all of the "lets be friends" variety, and I thought that the difference in methods would cause more friction. Really I just wanted to write the sequence where Sara Jane storms the Hub. I had not expected an actual meeting to occur within the show so soon, but I cant wait until the show airs here in three weeks. Anyway, please enjoy!

Chapter 5:

Jack Harkness watched the progress of the workmen very closely. Not just because he enjoyed the way their tight fitting jeans showed off their bottoms, but also to make sure they handled the statues with the utmost care. "Careful with that," he called out when something threatened to go wrong with the move. "Those angel statues must be preserved and moved whole. They have to stay looking at each other the entire time, do you understand me?"

The workmen made dismissing grunts in response. He knew they didn't understand, and he couldn't explain it to them. It was so difficult finding good help.

His cell phone rang, and Jack answered with a grin, "Gwen! Are you enjoying your honeymoon? You did avoid Millbury like I said, right?"

On the other end of the line, Gwen answered, "Yes, Jack, the honeymoon is wonderful, not a time trap in sight. But, is everything going fine there? I got a page saying the Hub has gone into lockdown."

Jack patted his pockets, and realized he had left his pager in the SUV. "Nothing for you to worry about, just have fun. I'll look into it."

As soon as he hung up his phone, it rang again. This time the Caller ID identified the caller as Martha Jones. "Martha! What's up," Jack answered.

"Jack," Martha said, "What the hell are you guys doing out there?"

"I'm not in the office right now," jack answered, seriously. "What have you been told?"

"I don't know. Something about a kidnapped boy? The higher up have got UNIT ready to take Torchwood by force. What have you done?"

"Look, I'll get to the bottom of this, you just hold them back. I'll get this straightened out."

Alan Jackson swallowed his frustration and closed his laptop. The initial phase of the plan, distraction, had been successful, unfortunately as soon as he had actually broken through the Torchwood computer's defenses, the computer was removed from the network, making it impossible for him to use the computer to turn off defensive systems while Sarah Jane entered their base.

He was now as useless as he felt, just sitting in Sarah Jane's attic while Mr. Smith continued to bounce energy beams off of a mirror into the void within the wall safe. He suspected he was in for a very long boring wait for the girls to return with Luke. Only then did it occur to him that she may not be successful; that he could be waiting in the attic waiting for someone who would not return. It wouldn't be forever, Mr. Smith and the other one had made it clear that the super computer would be unable to seal the black hole on its own. Either way Maria would die without his ever seeing her again. He really couldn't see how the day could be any worse…

He should have known.

"Alan! Maria!"

Her voice carried from across the street, his ex-wife come to check up on them. Even without looking out of a window, he could picture her moving around the house, looking for them, and since he had left 

his car parked out front, there was no chance she would assume they were out. Alan got up and started to make his way downstairs before she finished searching his house and moved across the street to see if they were with Sarah Jane.

He should have guessed she would be coming over. She would insist on coming over to demand that Maria tell her every detail about her field trip. Then as soon as Maria had uttered two words she would interrupt and make sure they all knew how busy her new life was with what's-his-name and what her next escapade was going to be, probably dinner with some American jingle writer.

Alan prepared himself for the tap dance needed to explain why he was across the street and Maria was out. He had several reasons planned, and would likely have to use them all as she seldom actually listened to what anyone else said.

The lights went out. For a moment, Luke Smith found himself in total darkness, still inside the cramped cell that was quickly feeling more like a coffin. He could still hear the unearthly howling and growls from down the brick hallway.

Darkness was short lived as emergency lighting came on. With a childlike innocence, Luke's confidence swelled with the knowledge that his mother was coming to get him.

Sarah Jane Smith met no resistance as she navigated the staircase down into Torchwood 3's hub, at least not until she got to the circular door at the bottom. Uncapping her sonic lipstick, she pointed its red tip at the door. There was no effect.

"The door is Deadlock Sealed, Mistress," said the silver robotic dog waiting by her feet.

"I know, K-9. I figured that out for myself. Can you open it?" she said. A deadlock seal was a method of locking things that was particularly effective against sonic devices. It effectively sealed two items together so tightly that they became a single piece and could not be separated unless one knew the precise frequency needed to unseal it, which one usually didn't.

"Negative, Mistress. Cutting through this door would require more time than is presently available."

"Well, can you at least break the seal then?" she asked.

K-9 answered with just a hint of satisfaction at the solution he had not come up with himself. "Affirmative."

A tiny barrel extended from the robotic dog's nose which emitted a laser beam that was just enough to subtly separate the two pieces of metal. K-9 repeated the process on the door in two more places just for good measure.

"Deadlock seal has been broken, Mistress," the robotic dog said.

"Thank you, K-9," Sarah Jane said while again aiming her sonic lipstick at the round metal door. It took longer than it normally would have, as the sonic waves hit the door causing it to fully break the seal, then slowly the vibrations caused the door to roll back away from the opening.

Captain Jack Harkness crouched down next to the still form of Ianto, and felt for a pulse. Finding one, he let go of the breath he had not realized he had been holding. That they had left Ianto alive spoke volumes about whoever was attacking the rest of his team. He had his revolver in his hand, going down the stairs to confront them now was possible, but he still didn't have all the answers he needed. Besides, it wasn't like they would be able to get past the main security door.

Replacing his revolver back in its holster, he arranged Ianto's still form into a more comfortable looking position. Pulling a key out of his pocket, Jack decided on a course of action and headed back out towards the plaza.

"Oh, my God!" exclaimed Toshiko as she was pointing her handheld sensor at the door.

"What… what is it?" Owen asked.

Tosh forced herself away from memories five years old, and turned to Owen, "She has a sonic modulator."

"Which is…?"

"It's a weapon, and a powerful one," Tosh answered, her experience limited to the single sonic device that she had constructed and then had used upon her.

"Can it get through the door?"

"No, it's sealed tight."

"Are you sure about that, Tosh?" Owen asked as the round door started to slowly move to the side with a creek, a moan and a rattle.

Tosh gave a half hearted smile.

"Okay, fine. You go stand over there, and I'll stay here. We can catch them in a cross fire when they open the door."

"Them?"

"Yes, Tosh, them; as in more than one. If you didn't notice, Ianto is down, and she didn't shoot him. Someone else did."

Luke looked up, realizing he was no longer alone. He noticed the teeth first, shining through the hansom man's smile as he stood in 1940's style clothing on the other side of the door to Luke's cell.

"Hello," Luke said, "Are you here to take me back to my Mum?"

"So, you noticed me," the man said.

"Was I not supposed to?" Luke asked. "You're the man I saw before, just before they brought me here?"

"So that's why they took you, and actually, no you weren't suppose to notice me," Jack pulled a key with a small microchip soldered onto it that was on a chain from around his neck and placed it back in his pocket. "You are a very perceptive young man, it seems. And not bad looking either, in another few years I bet I could make a position for you." Then Jack's voice grew a little more harsh as he asked, "That can't be why they are still holding you. Why?"

"He says I'm an alien, but I'm not! I was made by the Bane, see?" Luke held up his shirt front to show his lack of a navel. "But I'm still human."

"You look familiar, is your name Ashley?" Jack asked, remembering a news report he had seen in the recent past with a young couple looking for their lost child.

"No. The Slitheen called me Ashley when they were trying to trap me. My name is Luke Smith."

"Weren't they a bit thin to be Slitheen, Luke Smith?"

"They were using a new type of skin suit."

Jack opened the cell door and extended his arm to offer a hand shake. "Well, Luke Smith, I'm Captain Jack Harkness. Care to tell me about your Mom?"

Getting the big door to begin moving was the hardest part, the door needed very little help opening up the rest of the way. Two more quick blasts from the sonic lipstick and the inner bar doors flung open as well, and Sarah Jane Smith stepped into the Torchwood Hub with her Sonic Lipstick at the ready.

"Don't move! Stay right where you are!" Owen shouted, but to Sarah Jane he was just a white man with a bandaged hand leveling his gun leveled at her.

A similar shout came from her left as the asian woman, Tosh yelled from behind her gun, "Drop the sonic Device! On the floor, drop it now!"

They were unnerved by the calm the female intruder demonstrated. Sarah Jane glared at the coldly, before simply saying, "K-9."

The small robotic door rolled from behind Sarah Jane's feet, his gun barrel nose extended. "Maximum Defense Mode!" the dog said in a high pitched metallic voice.

Maximum defense mode was more than simply random firing of his nose laser, computerized beings don't do anything random. Each shot of his laser was carefully calculated to disorient and limit the movement of his attackers, as well as to intercept and vaporize any bullets that Owen and Tosh managed to fire off in Sarah Jane's direction. This time it served to both distract and cover Sarah Jane as she ran and ducked behind a desk supporting expensive looking equipment.

The mutual shooting continued for a moment until Owen stopped firing and took a longer moment to look out from behind his cover to survey the Hub and the aggressive mechanical dog.

"Tosh!" he yelled, but got no response. "Tosh!!"

"What?"

"Where did she go?"

"What about the Dog?"

"Forget the Dog! Where did she go?"

Tosh poked her head up higher to look around, not seeing anything, but the robotic dog firing laser blasts up to disorient their "pet" pterodactyl. "I don't see her!"

Owen bit back the string of expletives that immediately came to mind. "Find her!"

"Right," Tosh whispered to herself as she got down on all fours and turned around to find a different vantage point from which to find their human intruder. She did not have to look long, when she turned around she found herself staring directly into the glowing red tip of Sarah Jane's sonic lipstick.

Tosh's reason told her she needed to raise her gun, or rush the intruder before she could use her weapon, but all that was overridden by the sudden flash of memory the last time she had been on the receiving end of such a device. Writhing in pain on the floor unable to reach the ear protectors that could either protect herself or her mother who was sharing the same unbearable agony just a few feet away. She dropped her gun.

Sarah Jane motioned upwards, and together the two women stood, Sarah Jane keeping Tosh in-between herself and Owen's gun.

"Tosh!" Owen called.

"Sorry, Owen," she meekly replied, suddenly unable to fathom why she had been able to allow the intruder to get the drop on her.

"I want my son back," Sarah Jane said simply.

"Not going to happen," Owen replied.

"I do not have a clear shot, Mistress," K-9 said, his entire body pointed in a completely different direction.

Sarah Jane looked up to see her son standing on the upper level, a not unattractive man had a firm grip on Luke's arm. The man's other hand nonchalantly held a service revolver, but to Sarah Jane the threat towards Luke was painfully clear.

"Would you mind calling off your dog?" the man, Captain Jack Harkness, said in a playful sounding manner.

"K-9."

The robotic dog retracted his nose laser while emitting a small electronic growl.

"Thank you," Jack said. "Owen, put away your gun." He released his hand from Luke and turning to go down the stairs put his own gun in its holster.

"But Jack…"

"Owen! Its not an offensive weapon."

Tosh turned again to examine the sonic device in Sarah Jane's hand, unable to believe that she had felt such fear at something that could not harm her. "But, Jack, that other sonic emitter…"

"I told you, you were good." Jack paused to reach down to pet K-9, but the dog backed up out of reach with another growl. Jack grinned. "Is that a Bi-Al Marious Robotic K-9 unit? I use to see them in catalogs when I was a kid, but they didn't quite look like this… This looks more like the prototype sketches."

"He was a gift," she replied, edging back.

"And that? Sonic Screwdriver?"

"Lipstick."

"Does it really…?"

"No. It was another gift."

Jack stood next to her, looking down at her with one of his most award winning smiles. "Well, I guess not everything can do what it says on the tin. Captain Jack Harkness, at your service." He said while extending his hand.

Blushing she shook his hand, "Sarah Jane Smith, journalist." As soon as Luke was close enough she let go of his hand and enveloped the boy in a hug.

"I read your article on the gas explosion at the Deffry Vale School," Jack continued, "The most brilliant work of fiction I ever read. Good work." Jack knew from the witness reports that Sarah Jane was not the only one there for that incident, it had been another time he had narrowly missed meeting back up with the Doctor.

Owen looked from Jack to Sarah Jane and back, "Wait, that was her?"

Jack ignored him, instead he flipped up the flap covering his wrist band and studied the readings it took when he shook her hand. "You have done some traveling, haven't you?"

"Yes, I have."

"With the…"

"With an extraordinary man."

Jack's smile grew slightly rueful, "You must be very special. He doesn't give out gifts often." He sharply turned to Owen and Tosh, "You two, start cleaning this place up. You can tell me all about it when I get back. Call Martha, tell her everything is fine," turning back to Sarah Jane and Luke, "Would you like to take the scenic way out?"

"The street lift?" Luke asked, his face full of excitement.

Jack nodded, stepped up on the lift, and motioned for Luke, Sarah Jane and K-9 to join him. "We are going to have to get close," he cautioned, referring to the small size of the lift.

"Try not to enjoy it too much," Owen said under his breath.

"Oh, Im sorry about your door man," Sarah Jane said as the section of sidewalk they stood on began to rise.

"I checked on him, he will be fine," Jack answered.

Once the lift was safely back at street level, Owen turned to Tosh. "How the hell did he get back down here without us seeing?"

Tosh shrugged, realizing that she last remembered seeing the lift in the up position, and suddenly it was back down when Jack used it. "Well, you know Jack," she said in an attempt to dismiss the question.

"Actually, no, Tosh. I really don't."

Maria Jackson was pacing the plaza nervously, unsure what was going on with Sarah Jane or if she should call her Dad or maybe Lethbridge-Stewart again.

Out of nowhere, she suddenly spotted Luke standing in the street just in front of the fountain. Before she knew it, she was tackling her friend in a hug. Surprised, he had no choice but to move back under the force of her blow. The two of them bumped into two people Maria had not seen before, and even though one of them was Sarah Jane, she felt incredibly embarrassed.

"Sorry. I missed you," Maria meekly said, rapidly backing up a few steps.

The man standing next to Sarah Jane smiled and reached out with a friendly handshake, "Captain Jack Harkness, pleasure to meet you miss?"

"Maria. Maria Jackson," the startled girl stammered.

"Captain!"

"What? I'm just saying 'Hi.'"

"Really, Sarah Jane, I don't mind."

"Now, maybe in a few more years…" Jack started to joke, but a harsh look from Sarah Jane silenced him.

"That's quite enough of that, Captain. Come along, Luke, Maria. We're going. You too, K-9."

"Coming, Mistress."

Ianto found Jack standing in front of the cells. Not in front of their pet Weevil, but in front of an empty cell. "The latest situation reports are ready," he said.

Jack's mind was obviously elsewhere, and he suddenly dragged himself somewhat closer to the present. "This is a dreary place to keep a child," Jack finally said.

"Well, we could have it painted."

"If we contract it out we have that whole secret base thing to deal with, and the risk of retconing the contractors. We could paint it ourselves, but that would take so long, and it is definitely not my idea of fun."

"Well… there are ways… we could make it fun."

Jack's grin returned as he gave his friend and lover another look. "All right. We can start at the bottom and work our way up."

"But… no cheating."

Jack turned with a chuckle and headed towards the stairs, and Ianto sighed. Jack was going to cheat, he always cheats.

End.


End file.
